I already moved…Tumblr is bomb! Rent is cheaper there…jk!

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What’s For Dinner?

So K and I went to the grocery store last night with $20 in our pocket. We needed to stock up on ingredients to bring us through the rest of the week so I whipped out the March issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine and turned to the recipe section.

There was a list of 17 ingredients that could be used for 16 recipes (I’ll have to pick and choose, of course)! So I looked through our cupboards and checked to see what he had–we had 9 of the 17 ingredients. GOOD!

So we packed up baby and headed to our local grocery store…you know, the one that takes ALL manufacturer’s coupons:)?

We bought 3 boxs of pasta, 2 cans of lima and kidney beans, 1 can of diced tomatos, 2 packs of chicken breasts, 1 bag of broccoli, 1 bag of spinach, 2 cans of chicken broth, and 2 cylinders of pizza dough for no more than $15.

Our goal is to make this last until Saturday…The chicken breast and pasta will definitely go a long way. Pay day is tomorrow! Looking forward to that. My car needs gas : /

Valentine’s Day on an EXTREME Budget…

$134.

That’s the amount of free money we have left in our bank account until K gets paid on Thursday! Which means…no starbucks, no Target, no Redbox…nothing. However, this doesn’t mean we are not going to have a lovely V-day meal tonight at dinner.

For dinner, I am going to make some tasty chicken legs ($1.88 for a pack eight legs…MANAGER’S SPECIAL!) seasoned with some herbs, thyme and parsley and pair it with a bed of fluffy brown rice ($2 for a small bag) and a side of vegatables ($0.98c for a bag).  Dessert is going to be a first for me–I bought a $3 box of Whoopie Pie mix from Wal Mart and an $0.84c box of powdered sugar to make the filling. I can’t wait for those to come out of the oven: )

I didn’t know what it meant to be living on a budget until recently. Why did we wait so long to do create one!? Create a budget, people! It will keep you out of the RED.  A budget will avoid an overdraft and keep you sane…and I’m sure some of us have experienced that once or twice in our lifetime, right? 

While it’s a sucky feeling to be a paycheck-by-paycheck family, we are so grateful that we are still able to pay our bills and rent right on time…and still have a V-day dinner! After all, we know that this is not going to last forever…

Happy Valentines Day!

Starbucks, please! No, wait…

“Your total is $3.94″ the barsita said to me with a glowing smile on her face.

As I stood in line at Starbucks on Saturday evening, I thought to myself, “Should I put this $3.94 cents that I’m about to spend toward a CC bill?”…I, of course, pondered over that question as I slowly handed her my debit card.

The answer: Yes. I should have put it towards a CC bill…after all, I have a coffee maker at home.

This is tough, but at least we are all up to date on our payments…

Journey to Debt Freedom!

This is it.

I’m putting my whole (tiny) family out there–with the permission of my husband, of course:) Surprise, surprise. We have debt! But, who doesn’t, right? Besides the wealthy and the wise people who dodged the credit card (CC) companies, most of us who live in America suffer from debt. EMPHASIS ON “SUFFER”.

Whether it be 10k or 100k, we all know what it feels like to be in debt (unless you’re a child…oh, those lucky human beings!) Wouldn’t it be nice just get rid of it all? I think so. And to be frank, I know you do too: )

My hubby, K, deals with the bills in our home, so one night I asked him. “Hey, let me help you with that. I should be the one dealing with the finances since you’re working.” Now, I knew we had debt but somewhere between our wedding day and our first baby, I seemed to have ignored the reality of it all and woke each morning without the stress of DEBT—until 2/06/11. That was the night I was kindly reminded by my loving K that we have $50,000 in debt. OH! And that’s NOT including my husband’s school loan…from a private Seminary. Oy! But, would you like to know the exact details of what our debt is comprised of? I bet you do, but I gotta keep something private! Let’s just say that it is a mix of CC’s, misc. loans and school loans.

E-mail me if you’re that curious though : )

Word of advice: Stay away from loans! Who cares if you don’t have the title to your car! And as far as school goes…go to a Junior College first…save yourself 2 years increased credit hour dollar amounts. 

Anyways….later that week, K and I sat down and created a budget. This was the first time we made one since we got married (June 2009). And we came to the conclusion that we have very little “free money”. Lucky us, right? : ( I mean, we’re talkin’ less than $300 in free money every two weeks!

This is Day 1 of our journey to debt freedom and I dream of being free from it all in 364 more days! Even if it involves a little bit of…cyber-asking (the word “begging” sounds horrid!) I laughed as I signed up for this website because it’s highly unliekey that a reader will donate! Anyways, at this point in my life, I could care less…so if you choose to scoff at my blog (or smile!) it’s worth a shot to me as I focus on wiping out my family’s debt:

Care to give us a $1? Click the link below! : )

http://edisonhousehold.chipin.com/educationalcc-debt-by-021012

And that’s it. We have debt. Yay! I’m off to pay some bills…five CCs to be exact.